Choices
by starrgirl22
Summary: Amber's past comes back to haunt her. A different take of Season 5 Episode 16.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Good to be back and writing again. No excuses for the long absence. This story goes back to one from last season (5). One of my favorites was when we found out about Amber's back story. I had started working on this story before that aired. This story is different take on that episode. However, I did not include the pyro criminal's storyline. This story is all about my take on Amber's past catching up with her. (I did borrow a few details from the episode.)_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own H50._

Danny sucked dramatically on his straw pulling out the remnants of his drink. Grace and Amber giggled as they heard the sound of air and liquid mixing inside the hollow tube. Danny smiled and took in a deep satisfied breath and patted his stomach.

"Thanks for lunch, Babe," he said leaning in towards Amber.

Amber did the same and met the detective halfway. They shared a sweet not so short kiss.

"You're welcome," Amber replied with a smile pulling back slightly.

Danny closed the gap and kissed her again with smiling lips. Grace cleared her throat reminding the two adults that she was still there too. With a sigh the pair pulled back, but not before Danny gave Amber a look that told her that they would pick this up again later on. The three got up from the round table in the mall's food court. They gathered their trash and put it in a nearby bin.

Amber put one arm around Grace and slipped her hand into Danny's. She felt comfortable and at ease with the pair. The more time she spent with Danny and Grace the more privileged she felt to be included in their Ohana.

"Where to first, Monkey?" Danny asked already feeling his bank account being drained.

"Shoes," Grace responded. She was in need of a new pair for cheerleading.

The three headed to the nearest shoe store.

Danny waited patiently while Grace and Amber looked at the different options. Amber had been a cheerleader when she was in high school and thoroughly enjoyed discussing and shopping for anything to do with it. Cheer had given the two girls something to bond over. Danny smiled as he watched his two favorite girls laughing and giggling as they shopped for a good pair of cheerleading sneakers. It wasn't too surprising that Grace and Amber soon got sidetracked and ended up trying on at least ten other pairs between the two of them. When they left the shoe store Danny was carrying four pairs of shoes instead of just one.

The next stop was supposed to be to get accessories such as hair ribbons, body glitter, and such, but Grace and Amber were distracted by some outfits on display in another store's window. The girls laughed and giggled as they looked through the racks of clothes. They even included Danny insisting that he try on a few things as well. He did it just to humor them. Most of the clothes were not his style and made him look like beach bum. He sensed that Grace and Amber were only trying to tease him. He did however find a few t- shirts that he could stand to be seen in public in for casual days away from work.

The group left with a few more bags and Danny made sure they made it into the correct shop this time trying to get the girls back on track to shop for cheerleading. Unfortunately, for Danny, he now found himself being the only grown man in a small boutique that sold nothing but accessories for girls of all ages. He could feel the eyes of other women who were shopping with their own daughters on him.

Danny did his best to ignore it and was sure to stand in close proximity to Grace and Amber so as to silently tell anyone who was watching that he was not by himself in the shop. Amber and Grace went to town finding things to match the new outfits and shoes that they had just bought.

When the three left the accessories shop Danny was beginning to feel a bit tired. He suggested they head home and get something started for dinner. Grace and Amber agreed. As they started out Amber noticed that her sandal strap had come undone. She stopped, bent down, and refastened it. She put her head up getting ready to stand when something caught her eye. A man a little ways away was sitting on a bench with a cell phone up and pointed in her direction. For a moment a rush of coldness ran through her body causing her to shiver. She didn't realize she had stopped moving until she felt Danny's warm hand on her shoulder.

"You okay, Amber?" he asked.

Amber looked away from the man and up at Danny. His gentle demeanor calmed her nerves as it always did when she thought she saw 'him'. She knew she was overreacting just like the other times. Amber put a smile on her face, stood, and allowed Danny to put an arm over her shoulders. He draped his other arm over Grace and the three headed for the exit.

Amber couldn't shake the feeling that the man with the phone had looked so much like 'him'. The man she had seen was dressed like a tourist and wore a subtle colored Hawaiian shirt, baseball hat, khaki shorts, and sunglasses. As she thought about it she decided that it had only resembled him.

Amber had lived in Hawaii now for almost a year now. At first she thought she was seeing 'him' everywhere, but those hallucinations had become fewer and fewer. Perhaps it was because the anniversary of her leaving New York and starting over again in Hawaii was bringing them back. Amber looked over at Danny as they walked through the parking lot. Her mind wondered to memory of waking up to with Danny next to her in the hospital after she had been shot.

After they had been properly introduced Danny had told her that she had been shot. Amber felt her heart begin to pound jumping to conclusions in her head about who had shot her? Had 'he' found her and tried to kill her for leaving him? 'He' had threatened to do that if she ever left. Before she had been able to share this with Danny, the detective had told her how her being shot had been an accident and who had been responsible.

Amber slipped her arm around Danny's waist and pulled herself closer to him. He always made her feel safe and cared for. He had saved her life, but that was only part of her attraction to him. Besides the fact that he was incredibly handsome he was kind, generous, and protective of those he cared about. Amber considered herself lucky to be included in that group.

Danny had made the transition to her new life much easier. When thoughts of her past came crawling into her head it was thoughts of Danny Williams that chased them away. When they got to the Camaro Danny opened the door for the pair. Grace got in first climbing behind the seat. Danny shut the door after Amber had settled into her seat. He then got in on the driver's side and pulled out the of the parking lot.

The man on the bench looked through the pictures he had taken on his cell phone. They were shots of Amber, Danny, and Grace having lunch in the food court and then shopping for shoes, clothes and other various items. It had taken all the man's strength to keep from losing his temper and beating the blond man to a bloody pulp for having his rotten hands anywhere near his girlfriend. And to make matters worse she seemed to enjoy being with him.

The man couldn't decide which he wanted to do more punish her for leaving or make love to her. He knew for sure that once he got her back he was never going to let her go again. No matter what he had to do.

His phone then beeped indicating that he had received a new text message. He changed to his message app.

"Was it her?" it read.

He keyed in his reply. "Without a doubt."

A few moments later. "What next?"

He replied, "We plan."

He then closed the message app and went back into his photos. He stopped on one of 'her' holding up and outfit to the little girl. A smile formed on his face as he stood and headed for the exit.

 _A/N: Thanks for reading and please review._


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Thanks for the reviews and follows for the first chapter. I was able to post again so soon because this is a short chapter. The rest will be a little longer from here on out. I hope to post another chapter by this weekend at the latest._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own H50. (If I did then every episode would be Danny centered and he would spend at least half the episode without a shirt.)_

 _Two months later:_

Amber sat straight up in the dark room. Her heart pounded and sweat beaded down her face as she looked at the large bay windows in Danny's bedroom. She pulled the blanket up around her bare chest covering herself. All she saw were the shrubberies that surrounded them. No one was out there looking in. 'He' wasn't out there looking in at her.

A moment ago she thought she had seen 'him' standing there. 'He' had been staring at her through the window. Amber had looked for Danny, but found he was gone. She turned back to the dark figure and saw with horror that he now had a crowbar in his hand. She watched, terrified, as he lifted the tool and brought it down towards the pane of glass.

It was then that she had woken up.

Moments after seeing no one at the window she felt movement next her and the bedside lamp turned on. Danny squinted in the light as he turned from the lamp to his shaking girlfriend. It was obvious to the detective that she was in distress. He immediately sat up and pulled Amber into his arms.

"Hey, hey, hey," he said in a soothing voice "What's the matter?"

Amber rested her head against Danny. The hair on his chest tickled the side of her face. Danny warmed her chilled clammy skin with in a few moments. She held onto him pulling comfort from his strong embrace and clutched to his large arm. Danny stroked her hair and kissed the side of her head. Amber took in several deep breaths allowing her to smell his scent. He still smelled like the shower gel that she had washed him with earlier that evening.

"You okay?" Danny asked when he felt she had calmed enough to communicate with him.

"Bad dream," she said without lifting her head.

Danny stroked her back and decided not to press for details. He continued to offer her the comfort that she needed. Amber was glad that Danny hadn't asked any further questions about the nightmare, but she was slightly tempted to tell him. Although, this would mean that she would need to tell him everything about her move to Hawaii. There was a part of her that wanted to. Amber was certain that she would feel better if she did. But what would that do to their relationship? Amber felt they were in a good place, and she didn't want to jeopardize that. Besides it had been over a year now since she had come to Hawaii and except for her own imagination there was no reason to believe that 'he' had any idea where she was.

"Thank you," Amber whispered, "I feel better now."

She looked up into Danny's face.

"Glad to oblige," Danny said with a smile.

He leaned down and kissed her lips. Amber giggled slightly as she pulled herself up to reach his mouth better. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Danny moved one arm around her back keeping her in place. Amber pressed her chest closer to his showing that she wasn't going anywhere. Amber moved a hand from Danny's neck and stroked the side of his face as his tongue entered her mouth. Danny reached his free arm over to the lamp and shut it out.

 _A/N: Thanks for reading please review._


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Sorry sorry sorry sorry! I have been meaning to get back to this story and it just hasn't been in the cards. When I posted last Spring I had every intention of this being my summer project, and here we are at the beginning of November. Again so so sorry for those who have been waiting._

The midday bell rang at the Sister of the Sacred Heart School excusing the middle school age children to lunch. The hallway that had been dead silent just moments earlier was now bustling with 12, 13, and 14 year olds ready for a brain and food break. Students were going to their lockers, chatting with friends, and checking their phones. Cellphones had to be turned off and inside book bags while in class. Students were allowed to have them out between classes and on breaks. As long as the administration did not have to deal with cyber bullying or any other negative social media behavior then the school would continue to allow use between classes.

Grace Williams exited her class with her friend Katie. They went to Katie's locker first as it was the closest to their classroom. The two girls would then go to Grace's locker and meet up with a few other friends before heading outside to eat lunch. They followed a similar routine before lunch each day. The girls chatted about cheer practice, homework, and made plans to get together with other friends over the weekend to hang out.

Grace leaned against the wall while Katie put her bag inside her locker and retrieved her lunch. Grace was looking forward to after school. Amber was picking her up. She loved spending time with her dad's girlfriend. She always had a good time with her. It made it a little easier when her mother was in Las Vegas with her step father and brother. It was nice to have another woman to talk to about girl things. Danno tried his best, but there were just some things that a pre teen girl would rather talk about with a woman than a man. More than anything else Amber made Danno happy and Grace wanted her dad to be happy.

The happy chatter of the hallways was suddenly replaced with several loud blasts. Students began screaming in terror as smoke quickly filled the hallway. Had a bomb just gone off? Was the school under attack or on fire? The ringing of the blasts still filled the students' ears as the shrill screech of the fire alarm added to the noise and chaos that exploded all around them.

Teachers came running out of their classrooms trying to maneuver their way through the thickening smoke in order to get the frightened students heading in the direction of the exits. Visuals were poor and students kept tripping over each other as well as bags and books that had been dropped in the in the sudden fray.

Grace and Katie were affected by the explosions and smoke just as much as everyone was. Grace by instinct instilled in her by her father dropped to the ground and covered her head. When she put her head up it was difficult to distinguish who was who. All students were

required to wear the same sky blue colored shirt and khaki skirts, shorts, or pants making everyone look similar in the smoke. Grace wasn't sure if Katie was still next to her or not. It was turmoil all around her. The sounds of students screaming and coughing were mixed in with the yells of a few teachers trying to get students to the nearest exits.

Grace coughed as she unintentionally inhaled smoke into her lungs. Her eyes burned and watered. She got her knees in an attempt to get up and try and get out of the building with the rest of her classmates. She felt something pull on her backpack. Someone was pulling her to her feet. Grace felt grateful for the extra help and didn't think anything of it. As soon as she was standing upright the hands moved from her bag to around her waist. Then she was being pulled. The smoke stung her eyes and she continued to cough. She was trying to catch her breath to ask what was happening when she was pulled through an open classroom door. The non smoky air started to enter Grace's lungs and she welcomed it. She coughed and gasped for a moment more before looking at her surroundings. Before she had a chance to question why she had been brought into this room or why the door had been shut behind them a colored bandana pressed against her mouth and nose. Grace tried to resist, but an arm came across the front of her body holding her firmly in place. Grace's head began to feel heavy and her vision began to blacken. All at once her body failed her as she slumped forward unconscious.

The man, who wore a janitor's uniform, laid Grace's body onto the hard tile floor. He peered out of the door's window at the murky hallway. He could still see a few outlines of terrified students and staff trying to get out. He walked over to Grace and pulled her backpack off her shoulders. He began unzipping the pockets until he found her cell phone. He slipped the device into his pocket and produced a second phone from his other pocket.

"Went according to plan," he said into the phone after dialing, " . . . . .Yeah, got her drugged. . . . . I think I can get out without being stopped. . . . Worse case scenario I will take her out the front door. . . . If I am not there in ten minutes go the building next store and I will be there as soon as I can. . . .uh huh. . . . uh huh. . . . .bye."

The man took a deep breath as he looked down at Grace Williams. He and Frankie were counting on everyone being in a disarray. He hoped that when he went back out in the hallway with the unconscious girl he would be able to get, unnoticed, to the alley in the back of the school where deliveries were made. This is where Frankie would meet him. If he ran into someone on the way he could easily fake panic and recite a rehearsed story about finding the girl passed out on the floor. He was in such a hurry to get her out of the building that he hadn't realized he was going in the wrong direction. It would be more risky to get her away and into the parking lot next door with so many people around. However, he was counting on there being so much chaos that no one would notice him leave with the student.

Time was of the essence. Both men knew it wouldn't be long before she was missed. They also knew that every cop in the city would be looking for her once her dad found out that she was gone. But that was something they had planned for.

The man glanced at his watch so he knew how much time he had before Frankie left the alley and went to their close by agreed upon spot. He picked Grace up into his arms and peered once more out into the hallway. He saw a few stragglers still making their way outside. He pulled his shirt up over his mouth and walked out of the vacant classroom. His heart pounded as he made his way through the empty corridors. To his relief the classrooms in the adjoining hallways had already been evacuated. This told him chances running into someone were slim to none unless there was somebody already in the building looking for missing students. He doubted that.

He and Frankie had picked this particular time for a reason. Students were in between classes and would be unsure of where to go or which teacher to report to. Outside would be in complete disarray as the teachers and other staff tried to organize the students. They would also be busy attending to anyone who may have been injured.

A smile crossed the man's face as he reached the back exit with plenty of time. Frankie was in the idling car waiting for him just as they had planned. He opened up the back door and set Grace's limp body on the seat. He then climbed into the front next to his friend. Frankie looked in the rearview mirror at Grace.

"Ian," he said addressing his friend, "You are a God, man."

The two men gave each other a congratulatory high five. Frankie put the car into drive, turned around, and headed for the exit. The alley exited directly onto the street. Frankie intentionally maneuvered the car so they could go right past the front of the school. Ian got his first glance at the pandemonium that the two men had created at the uppity high priced private school. No emergency vehicles had arrived yet, but sirens could be heard close by. Students were crying and clung to one another while the principal was attempting to give instructions through a bullhorn. Some teachers were attending to injured students and staff members while others were trying to herd the frightened children into groups.

Both men laughed out loud as they looked at the mess they had created. They continued on down the road, but soon pulled over to allow emergency vehicles to pass by them. They were, of course heading in the direction of the school.

As Frankie pulled back into traffic Ian pulled Grace's cell phone from his pocket. The first part of their plan was complete, but after their short celebration they knew they had to move on to the next part quickly. Timing was crucial and they were on a very tight schedule. Ian turned on Grace's phone and pulled up her contact list. Amber's number was one of the first in her phone. He chuckled to himself seeing 'aaDanno' as the first contact in the little girl's phone. A clever trick to make sure her dad was the first contact in her list. He pressed Amber's name and handed the phone to his buddy.

Amber sat at a table in the empty break room finishing her lunch when her phone rang. She smiled when she saw a Grace's 'contacts' picture looking back at her. Amber was looking forward to picking the little girl up after school got out. She loved spending time with her boyfriend's daughter. She was such as sweet girl and the two had a lot of fun hanging out with each other.

"Hey, Grace," Amber said, "You having lunch right now?"

"Hello, Lissy," a familiar voice on the other end answered.

It was a voice that she hoped that she would never ever have to hear again. Amber's heart sank as she heard 'him' call her by her former nickname.

"Frank," Amber gasped, "How did you. . . ."

Amber stopped mid sentence remembering that the call was coming from Grace's cell phone.

"Where's Grace?" Amber asked in a panic, "What did you do to her?"

"Calm down, sweetie," Frankie said in a soothing voice, "She's fine and as long as you do exactly what I say then she will remain that way."

Tears were pooling in Amber's eyes and falling down her cheeks as she listened to her ex on the other end.

"I want to talk to her," Amber said, "I need to hear that she's alright."

At the same moment that Amber made her request her phone rang indicating that she was getting a text.

"You should have just received a photo from Ian. . . .you remember my buddy Ian I'm sure," he said.

Amber pulled the phone away and pulled up the text. She covered her mouth with her hand as she looked at the Grace's unconscious body in the back seat of a car.

"You are going to get up, get your things, and go to your car. You have exactly 90 seconds to get to do so and text a picture back to Ian's phone. I am going to hang up and wait for your text. If you go even one second over then this girl is going to be missing a finger. You know me and you know that I don't make idle threats so I suggest you hurry."

The line went dead. Amber didn't have time to waste she jumped up from the table, raced back to her desk, and grabbed her purse out of the bottom drawer. A few of her co workers gave her a confused look as she hurried to the exit and out the door. She ran to her car with her phone in hand and quickly took a picture of her car and with trembling fingers sent the picture to the number that had sent Grace's picture. She got into her car and started it as her phone rang again. This time it was from a different number.

"Good girl," Frankie said in a mocking tone, "We are off to a good start, Lissy."

Amber started heading out of the lot before she realized that she didn't know where she was going.

"Now what?" she questioned.

"You are going to head home and to make sure that you don't try to call anyone you and I are going to stay on the line together."

Amber pulled into traffic did her best to drive quickly, but one handed.

"I like what you did to your hair, but you know that I prefer it short and dark."

Amber felt shivers crawling up her back at the thought of Frank watching her. Obviously, he also knew about Danny. Had he seen her spending the night at his place? Had he seen them making love to one another? Another thought entered Amber's head as she raced through a yellow light. Frankie had threatened her on more than one occasion that he would hurt her and who ever she was with if she left him. That threat had been on the forefront of her mind after she had met Danny, but it had suppressed with time.

Amber wiped the tears from her eyes as she pressed down on the accelerator, but then backed off. She didn't want to get pulled over. She knew that would make Frankie angry and in his paranoid mind he would think she had done it on purpose.

"What do you see in that other guy anyway?" Frankie asked breaking into her thoughts.

"He had never hit me," Amber answered without thinking. She heard him intake several breaths and knew that her comment had been a mistake.

"I told you that I didn't mean to do that and I always apologized," he said in his defense.

Amber cringed as she heard his voice rise. She prayed that he wouldn't take his anger out on Grace.

"Where are you at?" Frankie asked.

So he wasn't following her. Amber told him the street she was on and that she would be home soon. Amber's thoughts turned to Danny. He was going to go nuts when he discovered that Grace was missing. She wondered how they had gotten her out of school and hoped that it wouldn't be too long before someone discovered she was missing.

 _A/N: Hope you enjoyed. I hope to be a lot quicker at getting the next chapter posted. Thanks to all who have stuck with me._


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Don't fall over, but here's another chapter. I know. . . . I can't believe it myself._

The black Camaro came to a screeching halt to in front of the school. Detective Danny Williams had the door open and was jumping out before the car had come to a complete stop. 5-0 had received the call to come and investigate the explosions at the school. The fact that it was Grace's school that had been attacked made the entire team move that much quicker to get to the crime scene.

"Go find Grace!" yelled Chin to Steve and Danny, "We'll see what we can find out."

The two men didn't need to be told twice and made their way into the sea of blue shirts and khaki bottoms. Danny searched frantically for any sign of his daughter. He scanned the students that were being treated by paramedics. Several wore oxygen masks while others were having minor wounds bandaged up. None receiving treatment were Grace. He then looked for any familiar face that could tell him where his daughter was.

Steve was looking just as frantically as Danny was for any sign of Grace. He had received the call about the attack on the school. It had killed him to have to tell his best friend that there had been an explosion at his daughter's school. The team always took attacks targeted at children seriously and the fact that Grace was involved made everyone doubly determined to find out who was responsible. First, though, was to make sure that Danny's daughter was unharmed.

"I'm not seeing her," Danny said starting to feel panicked.

"We'll find her, Danny," Steve assured his partner although he was fighting the urge to call out Grace's name. Both were trying to remain as professional as possible.

The two men continued to make their way through the crowd. Danny then heard a voice behind them call his name. He turned and looked briefly at the tear streaked face of Katie Hartfield. His daughter's best friend rushed toward him and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. Steve watched Danny's fatherly side coming out as he comforted the girl. Katie sobbed onto his shirt and her body shook all over. Danny stroked her blond hair trying to get her to calm down enough to tell him where Grace was.

"I can't find her," Katie suddenly blurted out. She looked up at her friend's father, but did not let up on her grip. She felt some comfort in Danny's embrace which was welcomed after being so scared and confused.

"It's okay. . . .your safe sweetheart. . . .but please tell me what you know about Grace."

Katie gulped in a few deep breaths and told the two men about being at her locker with Grace when the explosions had blasted all around them. She described how smoke had quickly filled the hallway. Katie had thought that Grace was still next to her as she was ushered towards an exit along with the other students. However, when she had gotten past the smoke she had looked for Grace and hadn't found her. Using a blow horn, the principal had instructed the students to find their 4th period teacher. This is the class they had just come from

before lunch. Katie thought she and Grace would be able to meet up then. There was still no sign of her. Katie had reported it to her teacher, but didn't know who else had been told. Katie had been so relieved to see Danny through the crowd of people. It was comforting to see a familiar face and she knew that he would make sure that Grace was found quickly.

"I'll find her," Danny assured Katie.

The twelve year old had her face buried once again into Danny's chest. He put his large hand on the back of her head and held her tight while shooting Steve a worried look. Steve gave a nod and walked away to find out who was in charge searching the school for missing students. Danny pulled Katie away from his torso and put an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm going to find her," he assured her again as he walked her back to her group.

Danny smiled warmly as Grace's classmates and teacher. He silently vowed that he was going to catch and annihilate whoever had was responsible for all this pandemonium. On the outside he was calm and collected, but his insides were falling apart at finding out that no one had knew where his daughter was. Danny made his way through the crowd once again and found Steve talking to one of the members of the fire department. They had been informed about the missing girl and several fire fighters had gone inside to look for her. Chin came through the crowd followed by Lou and Kono.

"So it looks like the explosions were caused by a series of strategically placed smoke bombs." That explained why the hallway had filled with smoke so quickly. Since the bombs were designed to impair visuals there wasn't any damage done to the structure of the building. Despite what had happened the amount of injuries was low. Smoke inhalation was what was being treated the most. The other injuries occurred by the large flow of students trying to get out of the building.

The head fire fighter then excused himself from the officers momentarily. The group watched him exchange a few words with one of his colleagues. He came back within a few minutes with more news to report.

"So there's another person missing as well, a school janitor," he said, "We've been all over the school and haven't found either one of them."

Danny exchanged a glance with his team members. They all guessed the conclusion the detective had jumped to about the janitor taking Grace. He took a few calming breaths trying to push the worse case scenario out of his head.

"I would like to take my team inside to investigate," Steve said eyeballing the front of the door deciding he would be going in permission or not.

"It's still a bit smokey, Commander," the fire chief said, "But most of it has dissipated through the windows that my crew opened up."

The five members of 5-0 entered the building and went straight to Katie's locker. This was the last place Grace had been seen. The locker stood open among others forgotten during the evacuation. There were back packs, books, papers, pens and other school supplies that littered the floor. Danny searched for anything that looked familiar or that belonged to Grace.

"Danny," Steve called from a nearby classroom.

The detective entered and saw Steve standing over abandoned backpack. It had been dumped completely out as if someone were searching for something.

"It's Grace's," Danny said recognizing it immediately.

This confirmed in Danny's mind that the missing janitor was responsible for Grace's disappearance. Grace would have tried to get out of the building with the rest of her classmates and would have no reason to go into an empty classroom.

Danny knelt down next to the contents of Grace's bag as he pulled on a pair of black gloves. He picked up the bag and checked an open side zipper pocket.

"Her cell is gone," Danny said with a little bit of hope. If the janitor had taken Grace and she had her phone then they might have a chance of tracking them down through the GPS.

"Kono," Danny called, "I need you to track Grace's cell."

The woman appeared in the doorway of the classroom with her tablet in hand. "Give me a few minutes and I'll have it," she said getting to work.

Steve rubbed his hand up and down his face quickly coming up with a game plan.

"Chin. . .Lou," Steve said coming out the room and back into the hallway, "Go talk to the school administration and get as much information as you can on this janitor. Then head back to HQ and find out as much as you can about him. Danny and I are going to track down Gracie's cell."

The team hurried out of the building. Steve and Danny were running at a breakneck speed to get back to the Camaro.

Kono set her tablet down on the hood of her car as she worked on tracking Grace's signal. As soon as she had a lock on it she would get the information to Steve and Danny then head back to HQ and assist Lou and Chin.

"Do you think this was just bad luck, Steve?" Danny asked as Steve drove out of the parking lot.

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked.

"What am I talking about?. . .I'm talking about motive. . . .I mean was Grace taken because of opportunity or was she targeted?"

"I don't know man," Steve commented.

The idea that Grace had been taken because someone thought they could snatch a rich kid from a high priced school and ask for a ransom had crossed both their minds. It would explain why Grace's phone had been taken, but Danny hadn't been contacted nor had he received a panicked call from his ex wife. The fact that no contact had been made with him or Rachel made Danny's heart pound and doubled his worry over his daughter's safety.

Danny's phone suddenly came to life startling the detective out of his own thoughts. It was, however, only Kono with the information they needed. The signal from Grace's cell was stationary. It gave Danny a small amount of hope that Grace was in one spot as well. The car got closer and closer to where the signal was leading them. Finally, Steve and Danny were right on top of the blinking red dot. However, to Danny's disappointment they stopped on the side of the highway and there wasn't much to see but trees. Now both men were fearing the worst.

"GRACE!" Danny yelled as he got out of the car.

"GRACIE!" Steve also called out.

They paused waiting for a response before calling out again. Danny pulled out his cellphone and called Grace's number. It took a moment, but soon a musical sound echoed closeby. They followed the noise and soon found the abandoned cellphone about 10 yards off the road. Danny picked it up and wiped it off. The two continued on into the woods calling out for Grace. There was no answer. The pit in Danny's stomach became deeper and deeper. After a few minutes Steve got out his phone and called for canine search. Danny leaned against a nearby tree hanging his head. Where was his daughter? What the hell was going on?

 _A/N: Hope you enjoyed. I will try to post the next chapter sometime this week. Fingers crossed that it will be soon._


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: As promised here's the next chapter. Enjoy! BTW if you haven't seen last night's H50 episode IT WAS AWESOME! I am have missed Danny's one liners. Last night's ep was full of them._

 _Disclaimer: I don't own H50. Nor do I own it in the previous two chapters that I posted last weekend. Forgot to post a disclaimer on the chapter._

Amber opened the door to her apartment.

"Go to your table," Frankie instructed.

Amber did as she was told. On the table were three things. The first was another cell phone, the second was a folded group of papers, and last was a blank pad of paper and a pen. She picked up the papers and a plastic card dropped out onto the table. It was her old driver's license from New York. She had left it behind when she left Frankie over a year ago. The papers were a travel itinerary. Amber's heart sank. Frankie planned to take her off the island. More tears spilled out of her eyes. She didn't want to go back and be as scared as she had been when she was living with him. But she would do if it meant keeping Grace safe.

"Pack," Frankie commanded.

Amber cringed at the order. She wanted so badly to tell him off and refuse, but instead she hurried into her bedroom and pulled out a suitcase. She started pulling clothes out of her closet and dresser. She knew it wouldn't all fit and most of what she now owned would not be warm enough for colder days in New York or wherever he was taking her. Amber didn't care all that mattered right now was keeping Grace safe. She went into her bathroom and grabbed a few essentials there. She considered for a brief moment writing a message on her mirror, but quickly pushed the thought out of her head. What if he came here after she left? Frankie had gotten in to leave the items that he did on her table. What would stop him from doing it again? Amber wiped a few tears from her eyes and she imagined that man going through her apartment and her things. Goosebumps rose up on her flesh at the thought.

At that moment Amber heard a beeping noise on her phone. She was getting another call. She pulled the device away from her ear and looked down. Her heart soared seeing that it was Danny. But she could still hear Frankie's voice coming through on the phone. He hadn't stopped talking to her since she started packing. Quickly, Amber hit the ignore button and got back to work. She felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest. She would have given anything to be able to hit the talk button and to hear Danny's comforting voice even if it was only for a minute.

"You almost done?" Frankie asked beginning to sound impatient, "We have a flight to catch, Lissy."

"Yes," was all Amber could squeak out.

She picked up a few more things and put them into the already full suitcase. With a bit of effort she was able to get the zipper closed.

"I'm done," Amber said.

She once again heard the call waiting beep on her phone. She didn't look this time. She didn't need to. She knew who was calling.

"Good, now go back to your table and take a seat."

Amber did as she was told.

"Alright, I'm here," she informed him.

"Pick up and the pen and write down exactly what I say," he ordered.

Amber repositioned the phone as he began to dictate. It was within two sentences that Amber realized she was writing a breakup letter to Danny. Tears fell onto the table as she wrote. Some landed on the paper and smeared the drying ink. She knew Danny wouldn't believe a single word in this letter. He was smart and good at figuring things out. Also the pair had been intimate that very morning. There was no way he would believe that this letter was legit. She had a feeling of hope that he would be able to interpret that she hadn't written this letter willingly. However, that feeling of hope was soon dashed. Even if he didn't believe it what could he do about it? Obviously the letter wouldn't tell Danny where she was going. It just said that she was leaving and not to come find her. She wiped her eyes as she signed her name to the false document.

Amber heard the call waiting beep come on several times while she was writing. Her phone also pinged telling her she had a voicemail and some texts.

"Good girl," Frankie said as if she were a dog, "Take a picture of the letter. I want to be able to see every word that you wrote."

Amber did as she was told forcing herself to ignore Danny's picture on her wallpaper and on the missed calls and messages.

"Now pick up the itinerary, the new phone, and your suitcase. Leave your phone on the table next to the note. You have 60 seconds to be back out at your car. Just like before I want a picture when you get there. There's is only one number in the contact list send it there."

Amber picked up her things and hurried toward the front door. She hoped and prayed that Danny would be on the other side waiting for her. She turned the knob and opened the door.

H50

Danny felt numb. He was in a stupor as he watched the canine unit arrived. He saw but couldn't quite process as the dogs sniffed his daughter's backpack and then smelled the ground. The dogs moved quickly covering the land trying to pick up any sign of Grace. It wasn't until the dogs started to whine that Danny started to wake up. The officers urged the dogs to keep trying. The animals put noses back to the ground, but were soon up again and whining. Danny knew what that meant. They weren't finding Grace's scent. That was partially good news. It meant that neither Grace nor her body was in the woods. But it also meant that she was still missing.

The numbness was beginning to fade, but the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach was making itself known once more.

"We're going to find her," Steve said coming up along side his friend.

Steve took out his phone and to call Chin and Lou to see if they had any information on the missing janitor, Danny pulled out his own phone and looked at it. He turned on the screen and looked at the picture on him homescreen. Grace's bright smile and eyes stared back at him. He looked at the other person in the picture. Amber also smiled back. The photo had been a selfie that Grace and Amber had taken together. Danny still remembered getting it on his phone while he had been working and wished that he was with them.

The picture made Danny remember that Amber was supposed to pick up Grace that afternoon. He opened up his contacts and found Amber's cell number. She didn't answer which wasn't unusual while she was working. He tried her work number and again got no answer. Danny called one of Amber's coworkers. He was shocked to learn that she had left work in a hurry about 30 minutes prior and hadn't told anyone where she was going.

Danny was starting to get a little bit nervous as he tried her cell again. This time he left a voicemail when she didn't answer. Steve got off the phone with Chin and saw Danny's worried expression as he started composing a text message to Amber. He quickly explained to Steve that something wasn't right. The rest of the team was still trying to figure out who the janitor really was so the two decided to check on Amber even if only to give Danny a little piece of mind in the middle of his daughter's disappearance.

Steve put in a quick call to Kono and asked her to get a lock on Amber's cell. The two were soon in the Camaro and off driving towards Amber's place in case she was there. Danny didn't mind Steve driving for once so he could focus on trying to contact his girlfriend.

Kono called back five minutes later with an address for the phone's location. Danny confirmed that it was Amber's. Steve sped up and soon the sports car was pulling into the parking lot of Amber's complex.

Danny put his phone in his pocket and hurried up the stairs to Amber's door. Danny had a key, but realized he didn't need it as the door was partially open. He and Steve exchanged a glance as they both took out their weapons. Danny took a hold of the handle and slowly opened the door.

The apartment was empty.

Danny saw Amber's phone sitting on the table next to a piece of paper. The detective picked it up and read it. He could not believe that Amber had written this even though it was in her handwriting and had her signature at the bottom. Steve read the letter over Danny's shoulder.

"I thought everything was going really well between the two of you," he said confused.

"It is," Danny replied reading the letter a second time. He was trying to wrap his head around what he saw in front of him.

Both men spotted several spots on the paper where the ink was blurred.

"She was crying while she wrote this," Steve commented deciding that the wet spots had been caused by tears.

"It doesn't make sense," Danny said putting the letter down and heading towards Amber's room, "She was going to pick Grace up today. She wouldn't have offered to do that if she was planning on leaving. She spent the night last night and we had a great time together. There wasn't anything to hint that she was unhappy or planning to do this."

However, Amber's ransacked bedroom told a different story. It was obvious she had packed in a hurry. Danny continued to shake his head. She had also been a work just over an hour ago. What had happened to make her do this? At that moment Steve's phone rang.

"Chin," Steve said, "What do you got?"

"Steve, put me on speaker both you and Danny need to hear this."

Steve did as he was told and changed his phone setting.

"So we took a look at the school personnel records and found out that our missing janitor used a false identity when he got hired. His real name is Ian Reichart. He's been on the island for a little over 2 months now. It looks like originally he had planned on only staying for two weeks, but three days before his flight out he cancels and stays."

"So. . . what. . . he liked it here so much that he decided to stay and be a janitor," Danny interjected.

"Well as it turns out Reichart has a record," Chin continued, "He was charged with some low end robberies along with a Franklin Simpson"

Neither Steve or Danny knew who either man was.

"Both men are from New York and Simpson arrived on the island just a few days after Reichart canceled his flight home. . . .Simpson has had other charges as well. Twice he put his girlfriend in the hospital. Her name is Melissa Armstrong, but we know her as Amber Vitale."

Chin stopped talking to allow both men to process what he had just heard. Danny sat down on the bed as he took it all in. Amber had told him when they first met that she was starting over in Hawaii. It never crossed his mind that this meant she was running from an abusive ex.

"Amber and Simpson shared an apartment in New York for a few years. She disappeared after he put her in the hospital a second time. The photos of her injuries were quite gruesome. Simpson filed a missing persons report after Amber left him. But it wasn't taken seriously considering their history."

"So Reichart must have been here on vacation or something and out of pure dumb luck spotted Amber. He then told Simpson and the pair have been out here plotting."

Danny fumed with anger as he realized that Grace was part of that plot. Reichart had access to his daughter. The man had been watching her for the past 2 months. After he got hired at her school he could have accessed her file, knew her schedule, and learned her school routine. Simpson and Reichart had obviously seen the relationship between Grace and Amber and were now using that to their advantage. Everything was making sense now. Grace's kidnapping, Amber's note, and sudden disappearance of both girls was all because of these two men.

"Chin do you have any idea what their next move is?" Steve asked.

"We're still looking," he answered.

"Hold on," Danny said getting up off the bed. He went out to Amber's table, picked up her phone, returned to her room.

Danny unlocked the device and opened up her call history. Both men saw the call made from Grace's phone and then an unknown number that Amber stayed on the line with for over an hour.

"Hey Chin, I need you see if you can trace a number for me," Danny said.

He gave the lieutenant the digits and waited impatiently for results.

"Sorry, Danny," Chin said after a few minutes, "The phone's a burner."

"Damn it," Danny mumbled hoping they could track the cell and find Amber and Simpson. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

Danny and Steve were both getting the same feeling that perhaps they had learned all of this information a little bit too late. What if they were already gone?"

 _A/N: Hope you are still enjoying. Just a heads up the next chapter will be the last for this story and it is pretty long. I will try to get it posted as soon as possible, but it still needs some editing and touch ups. Thanks for reading._


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